Urban transformation has become a central instrument in Dutch urban policy, particularly as cities seek to address housing shortages and sustainability goals within the limits of the compact-city model. Former industrial areas are increasingly redeveloped into mixed-use districts, raising questions about what happens to the existing businesses that occupy these zones.
This thesis examines how such transformations lead to business displacement and how this process is shaped by societal narratives, spatial-planning decisions, and legal frameworks. Using a mixed-methods approach, combining literature analysis, a multi-case study design, LISA database analysis, GIS mapping, and semi-structured interviews, this research investigates two Dutch transformation areas: Cruquius (Amsterdam) and the Binckhorst (The Hague). These contrasting governance models, one developer-led and one publicly steered, provide insight into different paths through which industrial restructuring unfolds.
The results show that displacement rarely occurs through direct measures such as expropriation or formal zoning bans. Instead, it emerges through gradual and indirect mechanisms: regulatory uncertainty, the revaluation of urban land toward housing and creative functions, tightening environmental norms, and strategic use of legal instruments under the (former) Environmental and Planning Act. Quantitative analysis reveals divergent business trajectories between the cases, ranging from managed relocation to large-scale disappearance, while qualitative insights highlight how uncertainty influences business behaviour long before redevelopment becomes formalised.
Overall, the findings demonstrate that industrial displacement is not an unintended side effect of mixed-use transformation but a systemic outcome of broader institutional and societal shifts. The thesis contributes to ongoing debates on urban productivity, economic diversity, and sustainable redevelopment, and offers recommendations for balancing urban growth with the retention of essential productive functions in Dutch cities.